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03-04-2014

ARA News

Urfa, Turkey– Al-Qaeda splinter group of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) demanded on Wednesday Kurdish civilians in the villages of al-Shaba, Shatt al-Rihman and al-Hijaziya in the western countryside of Tel Abyad city in Raqqa province to evacuate their villages, “threatening to hold their women hostages if they resist”, according to local sources.

An eyewitness in Tel Abyad −who preferred anonymity− told ARA News that ISIL members positioned in Kafifa village (25 km south of Tel Abyad city) patrolled on Wednesday villages of al-Shaba, Shatt al-Rihman and al-Hijaziya, and notified the civilians that they have to depart.

Meanwhile, ISIL fighters who are positioned in Jamis village launched rockets on the western countryside of Tel Abyad city −where Kurdish constitute majority.

Saman Kalo, a media activist based in Tel Abyad, told ARA News in a telephone call: “One of the rockets fired from Jamis village hit residential area west of Tel Abyad and left huge damage, without any casualties being reported.”

Noteworthy, this is the third time in which the ISIL group forces Kurdish civilians in Tel Abyad city and its countryside to leave their homes. The first time was nearly one year ago, when Kurdish forces of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) drove ISIL fighters out of the city of Sere Kaniye/Ras al-Ain; while the second time was on March 18, 2014, as the ISIL demanded the residents of a number of Kurdish villages in the western countryside of Tel Abyad to leave their districts after accusing them of cooperating with the YPG against the group (ISIL).